Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 November 2015


Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 13 November 2015


:: NATIONAL ::

India not intolerant: Modi

  • India and the U.K. announced an enhanced defence and strategic partnership as well as a civil nuclear agreement as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron met here on Thursday, and said trade deals worth £ 9 billion would be signed during Mr. Modi's three-day visit.

  • “India is the land of Gand-hi and Buddha, we are not an intolerant society,” Mr. Modi said in answer to a point-ed question, adding, “every incident taking place in any corner of the nation is a serious incident, law takes its course and strict action is taken.”

  • The Prime Minister made the statement, even as more than 1,000 protesters raised slogans against him outside 10 Downing Street. The pro-testers comprising Kashmiri, Sikh, Nepali, Tamil and Dalit groups were joined by British human rights activists, and even saw an appearance by controversial politician George Galloway, who had once backed Saddam Hussein.

On Diwali night, India gasped for breath

  • Twenty of 26 air quality monitoring stations across the country recorded “severe” air quality at mid-night on Wednesday night, a level of pollution that India of-ficially rates as its worst possible, and describes as one that “affects even healthy people, and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.”

  • In Delhi, particulate matter levels surpassed the worst that Beijing has experienced, The Hindu's analysis of air quality data shows.

  • On Wednesday night, which was Diwali night, air quality deteriorated across the eight States for which data is available through the Central Pollution Control Board's National Air Quality Index monitoring portal. Looking at PM2.5 lev-els--the hourly concentration of very fine particles up to 2.5 micrograms in diameter which can severely affect respiratory functioning alone.

  • In Chennai, the air quality reached “severe” or “very poor” levels on Tuesday night, when Diwali is celebrated in that city, and improved on Wednesday night. In most of the rest of the country, PM2.5 levels were at “severe” levels on Wednesday night. In Dwarka (Delhi), the PM2.5 levels were “very poor”, while at the BWSSB-Kadabesanahalli monitoring station in Bengaluru, the index was at “poor.”

Clarity sought on Centre's ban on surrogacy for foreigners (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Centre offloads seized pulses to hold Priceline (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: INDIA AND WORLD ::

On Day 1, concern over Sikh radicalism

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now on a visit to the United Kingdom, is learnt to have told his British counterpart David Cameron that Indian intelligence agencies had information that two gurdwaras, one in Birmingham and the other in Glasgow, were being used to espouse radical views among the Sikh youth.

  • Mr. Modi is learnt to have told Mr. Cameron that radical groups were being trained there with the help of live demonstrations to make improvised explosive devices. These classes were held in December 2014 and January 2015.

  • Babbar Khalsa International, which was banned in India, had started an Internet radio which was accessible through its parent site www.khalsa-fauj.net. The website allegedly glorified slain Khalistani militants.

  • Mr. Modi is believed to have told Mr. Cameron that funds were collected by organisations such as the BKI, International Sikh Youth Federation, Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Zindabad Force and sent to intermediaries based in Punjab and Pakistan.

Cameron offers to fund Modi's vision (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

European IS-linked terror cell busted

  • Law enforcement authorities of Eu-rope announced on Thursday they had broken up a Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring that radicalised prospects via the Inter-net and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside the Islamic State group. Police in six European countries arrested at least 15 suspected members of the militant group, Italian authorities said.

  • They said the militants planned to strike Norwegian and British diplomats in West Asia and politicians in Norway but gave no further information about the potential targets or the time frame for any attacks. Police in Oslo said there had never been a “concrete or acute threat” against any Norwegian citizens or interests.

  • Italy's national Carabinieri police led the investigation, with security forces in Italy, Britain, Nor-way, Finland, Germany and Switzerland taking part in Thurs-day's swoop.

  • “This was an incredibly difficult and complicated investigation that has been going on for five years,” said prosecutor Franco Roberti, the head of Italy's anti-mafia and anti-terrorism unit. A total of 17 arrest warrants were issued, almost all for Iraqi Kurds, and 15 suspects were picked up immediately.

  • One of those wanted was believed to be in Iraq, while it was not yet clear whether another suspect had been found in Switzerland.

EU-Africa refugee action plan

  • EU to provide initial 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to a new Emergency Trust Fund to support projects aimed at reducing refugee flows from Africa to Europe and displacement of people within Africa.

  • Future development cooperation to focus on projects which will reduce migratory pressures: includes fostering jobs and economic growth in areas refugee come from or transit through, a scheme to reduce the development impact of remittances by cutting transfer costs and joint research on the causes of migration.

  • Opportunities for legal migration to be "promoted". Only concrete step agreed was an increase in the number of EU-funded scholarships for African students and academics.

  • New programmes to be set up by end-2016 to increase protection and economic opportunities of displaced people in the Horn of Africa and North Africa.

  • Increased cooperation on combatting illegal immigration and people trafficking, including creation of joint investigative team as a pilot project in key transit country Niger.

  • Repatriation of failed asylum seekers to be accelerated. At least 10 African countries agreed to help European states identify illegal immigrants without official documents (making them difficult to deport).

:: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY ::

Key indicators register fall

  • Growth in industrial production, as measured by the Index of Industri-al Production, slowed down in September to 3.6 per cent from the break-neck 6.3 per cent achieved in August. Retail inflation for October, also released on Thursday, accelerated to 5 per cent from 4.4 per cent in September, marking the fourth consecutive month of consumer price inflation quickening.

  • “The General Index (of Industrial Production) for the month of September 2015 stands at 178.0, which is 3.6 per cent higher as com-pared to the level in the month of September 2014. The cumulative growth for the period April-September 2015-16 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 4 per cent,” the government said in a release.

  • The 3.6 per cent growth rate in industrial production seems more the norm than the high 6.3 achieved the previous month. In fact, the growth rate achieved in September is exactly the median growth rate over the period January-September. August seems to have been an aberration, registering a growth rate 2.6 percentage points higher than the median.

  • That said, some elements of the index certainly have fallen more drastically than others. Growth in the manufacturing sector, for ex-ample, plummeted to 2.6 per cent in September from a heady 6.6 per cent the previous month. However, this 2.6 per cent is low even com-pared to more ‘normal' months, falling well below the 3.9 per cent median growth rate since January.

  • An exception The electricity sector, on the other hand, grew very strongly in September, coming in at 11.4 per cent, up from 5.6 per cent in Au-gust. This is the fastest growth the sector has seen since August 2014. Notably, by usage, the capital goods sector slowed down considerably, coming in at 10.5 per cent in September compared to 21.4 per cent in August.

  • However, this could be more of a correction since the sector grew at 10.6 per cent in July. Consumer goods, a measure of demand in the economy, also slowed to 0.6 per cent in September compared to 6 per cent in Au-gust. Growth in the Consumer Price Index, at 5 per cent in October, was the highest it has been since June, when it was 5.4 per cent. The greatest increase can be seen in the food and beverages segment, which accelerated from 4.3 per cent in September to 5.3 per cent in October. Here, urban Indians felt the pinch more than rural Indians, although the rate of inflation quicken considerably for the latter as well. Food inflation in urban India went from 3.8 per cent in September to 5.4 per cent in October.

  • The same numbers are 4.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent for rural India. Significantly, growth in the fuel and light segment of the CPI slowed for the third consecutive month to 5.3 per cent from 5.8 per cent two months ago. Inflation in clothing and footwear, at 5.6 per cent was at a multi-year low, lower than it has been for at least three and a half years.

  • Although CPI inflation has been accelerating lately, it is still within the Reserve Bank of India's com-fort zone of 6 per cent that it want-ed to achieve by January 2016.

Subir Gokarn appointed ED at IMF (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: SPORTS ::

India tastes victory, finally

  • India overcame great odds to emerge a 1-0 winner against Guam in Bengaluru, its first victory in six 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers (AFC second round). Not only were the Indians up against a higher-ranked team, they also had to compete for near-ly 45 minutes with only 10 men.

  • The home team, which claimed its first points in the competition, continued to stay at the bottom of Group D. Guam (seven points) was placed a rung higher. In a stunning opening sequence, India took the lead through Robin Singh in the 11th minute.

  • Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh launched a long goal-kick and found skipper Sunil Chetri open on the flank. Chetri cut into the box before relaying the ball to Robin. The striker received the pass with his back to the goal, and spun around his marker to create some space. Though he shot of his weaker right-foot, the near-perfect curler nestled into the far top-corner.

  • Just before half-time, the Indians were dealt a big blow when defender Sehnaj Singh was sent of. A high tackle and a collision brought an instant red card from the referee, forcing coach Stephen Constantine to change his approach. The players fell back in open play, and apart from the lone forward upfront, the rest were called up to hold fort.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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